Brilliance from the Wooster Collective.

In the artist’s own words:

“these days it seems shoes and clothes just aren’t enough anymore.

i’ve always loved working in different mediums on the street - stencils, pastes, stickers, cardboard, wood, etc.. over the years you watch your works disappear no matter what the medium - from weather, other artists, property owners, etc.. anyone that does this for a while starts to realize that with more thought out placement, things can last a long ass time, a lot longer than pieces placed haphazardly. so lately i’ve not only been choosing my locations more wisely but have been doing things that attempt to blend in with the existing surroundings. i’m sure these alterations go mainly unnoticed for the most part but for me it offers the same satisfaction as the other things i do on the street - it’s all about altering the outside world no matter how subtle”

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P.S. We decided not to move. It’s a faith thing.

I just love this:

http://yarnbombing.com/, also known as textile graffiti. c/o Brian.

I remember the day I first encountered dawn, willingly. The slow turning of midnight to charcoal, lavender then cherry red, blood orange and, finally, the blaze of morning’s first light: pineapple gold.

God made dawn, with its flurry of colour, to welcome us. I feel the same way about summer.

Right now, from urban mainstay Anthropologie to the handmade clothing of Adhesif, the radish reds and saltwater turquoise of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s are spilling onto sunny boardwalks and into the streets once again.

Spring/Summer 2009 at Anthropologie

Old is in. This summer, the used and discarded are making a comeback. Call it recession-proofing, call it what you like, but the second-hand clothing scene is booming.

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Read the entire article here. Published today in Comment.

My suspicions have been confirmed thanks to an article in this week’s Georgia Straight. The house I have long adored on the shore of Deer Lake is an Arthur Erickson creation. It is named the Baldwin House and is available for rent!

I’m not sure if this is good or bad news… To know your own private oasis is there for the taking is a kind of sick torture. Perhaps my husband will surprise me with a stay?

The birthday calendar is something of a Dutch tradition. The world over you will find important dates like birthdays and anniversaries lovingly jotted in something called the perpetual calendar and hanging in the powder room. I got mine in Gouda, Netherlands two years ago and since then many a visitor has commented on its practicality. 

It seems this little traditional calendar is making a comeback. Consider these online finds:

The Sukie perpetual calendar by Chronicle (complete with moveable day, month and weather wheels)

The vintage gold brass flip on Etsy

And of course, the Dutch-themed Birthday calendar also on Etsy

A fine investment, I can attest.

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Make your own!

Here’s how you can make your own perpetual calendar by hand:

1.   First, cut your paper to size. (I used 8.5″ × 11″ card stock cut in half.) 

2.  Then, draw your lines for every day of the month. (You could always cheat here and do this on the computer.) 

3.  Number each line. I chose to use my typewriter.

4.  Next, choose your theme. (I’m a sucker for snail mail so I used stamps.) 

5.  Finally, punch a hole through the top of the calendar and feed through a ribbon or twine. 

6.  Hang and begin jotting in your loved ones’ special days. (I recommend using a pencil. Mistakes happen.) 

Published today in catapult magazine

She’s best known as a hip-hop and pop songstress, but tonight, Vancouver’s Kinnie Starr will be showing off her talents as a poet.

Starr will read from How I Learned To Run, her first book of poetry and drawings, which is described as “a contemplative look at love, history, sex and the complexities of being part Mohawk in a Canadian family that has yet to come to terms with its indigenous roots.”

Starr has been performing across Canada and around the globe since 1995. She is also the co-founder of Vancouver’s Aboriginal Music Lab, and teaches with Artstarts in schools.

Tonight’s reading is from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch (350 W Georgia St.), and it’s free.

Or, if you can’t make it to the reading, you can check out poems from How I Learned To Run or order a copy here.

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From the CBC Radio 3 blog

I leave Toronto one week today. I can’t believe how fast it’s flown by. Just three months ago I was curled up in our condo cursing the cold and nursing my 24-hour ‘morning’ sickness. Today I am staring out at the sun-kissed waters of Lake Ontario filled with regret. I will miss this city and all its eccentricities — the buskers of St. Lawrence Market, Kensington’s nooks and crannies, Little India on Queen Street — where you’ll find us 3 out of 7 nights a week. I hope to share a few more ‘Signs of Hope’ from Toronto before we hop our plane next Wednesday. 

Priority number one, upon my return to Vancouver (April 18, after our trip across the pond) is hitting up Raw Canvas: a full-service paint-on-canvas art studio complete with wifi, lounge and fresh crema. 

I’m making plans and taking names. Who’s in?